A Winter's Journey
by Crysania
Summary: Belle and Dreamy travel together after both have been separated from their loves and get caught in a winter storm. It might just take a miracle...or some magic...to save them.


They had been traveling for nigh on a month already, leaving the tavern far behind and striking out for parts unknown. The dwarf had met the young woman as she lifted tankards of ale and lamented a lost love, the same sort of love she was sure she saw on his face. She had prompted him to do something risky, declaring his love for a fairy, but that had blown up rather spectacularly in his face. When the young woman, a lass who he was sure was of noble birth despite her peasant outfit, had found out, she'd invited the dwarf to travel with her. It didn't quite matter where. He had made up his mind to not return to the mines despite his brothers' admonishments, and travel with her. She needed protection, he told himself. A young lady did not belong out on the road alone. When he stated that, she had rather mysteriously told him she had a powerful protector and left it at that. The dwarf had chosen to accompany her anyway, wanting to see the parts of the world that dwarves never got to see, nearly chained to the dust mines as they were.

They had set off in fall as the leaves were just beginning to turn brilliant shades of red and yellow. The tavern had been located high in the mountains and as they descended, the colors had gotten only more radiant. The woman, Belle was her name, had told him the legends of her people. She said little about where she was from, what village or family, but her people had colorful myths surrounding nearly everything in nature. As they made their way through the deep forest, Belle told stories to pass the time. "In the time before time began as we know it, the trees remained green all year round, celebrating their vitality by always trying to grow taller than the other trees and stronger than the other trees. The colors were vivid, but some trees grew arrogant, boastful. The maples, the oaks, the aspens…they all argued amongst themselves for who was the most glorious, the greenest, the strongest. The pines and firs and spruces warned them. They told them their arrogance was going too far, but they just laughed and went on their merry way."

He interrupted her to ask how they could go on their "merry way" when they were, well, _trees_ and Belle just laughed and asked if he wanted the rest of the story. He nodded his agreement and they set off once more to the sound of her musical voice.

"Finally the gods had had enough and so brought a great curse down on the arrogant trees. Much like the sunset every evening, the leaves would turn shades of reds and oranges and yellows and then drop off, the nighttime for trees during the harsh winter months. Only the pines and firs and spruces, those trees that were not arrogant and boastful, would remain green all year."

The dwarf thought it was a ridiculous story, but Belle loved to talk and her stories filled their days with laughter and passed the time as they walked through the forest.

The pair avoided towns when they could and he never quite understood her need to remain apart from others. If she had a powerful protector, he didn't know why she was so worried about staying in such places. But she had simply hushed him and strode off into the forest, a somewhat troubled look about her eyes.

It was late one evening as they huddled near the fire that he finally thought to ask her about things that had gone unsaid since they first met.

"Belle…this person you loved…what happened there?" Belle knew the whole sordid affair of his love for the fairy and the very quick end of their tragic story at the hands of the Blue Fairy and the dwarf named Bossy. He knew almost nothing about what had happened to set her on this journey.

Belle stared off into the distance, something he noticed she did a lot. If she wasn't reading one of the books she had squirreled away in her pack, sitting so close to the fire at night that he was afraid she'd singe her hair, she was looking off in the distance, a slight frown on her face and her brilliant eyes dulled for a time.

She blinked as she turned to look at him. "He was…not the easiest man to love. He warned me of that, but I didn't heed it."

"That's all?" he asked.

"No, Dreamy. There was so much more. He chose his power over me. He threw my love out and me with it." Her voice was soft as she spoke.

"Who was he?"

Belle shook her head. "Some things are better left unsaid."

The dwarf grunted and the two fell silent once more.

It was on their way through a densely forested area that Belle started to share stories of the man she loved. She never shared many details, but Dreamy found those that she shared engaging.

_Rumplestiltskin had been gone for over five days when the bird appeared, flying in through one of the windows she had opened to let some of the fine spring air in. She had grabbed a broom, worried about the mess the bird might make when it swooped down and landed next to her._

_She noticed the parchment rolled up and tied to the bird's leg almost immediately. _So a carrier pigeon then. _She plucked it off the bird's leg and was relieved to see it fly off and out the same window. No mess was left behind for her to clean._

_The letter she read was short and to the point. Pirates. Pirates had somehow managed to capture Rumplestiltskin. The writing was awkward, as if the person writing it was not used to doing such a thing, but she gathered that some fairy was involved. She could almost hear him sneering the word in her head. Funny how she had been with him for only a short time and yet she shuddered at the thought of the fairies' involvement. Not afraid of the Dark One. Afraid of fairies_. _What had become of her?_

_The letter said little but gave some amount of clues as to their whereabouts. She recognized where the parchment came from, knowing the small stand that sold paper marked with that particular watermark. She leaned closer, smelled the ink. Yes, she definitely knew where this all came from._

_She had set out that very day, holding a small pack full of whatever supplies she could mange, including a book on pirates that she found in Rumplestiltskin's vast library. She was sure the pack was enchanted, as it felt too light to carry everything she had shoved inside it. But she wasn't going to argue with that bit of magic as it made the journey much easier._

"I only had my dagger, but somehow I made it through all those pirates to get to the cage they were keeping him in. Oh you should have seen him, all crumpled on the floor, tied up with tight knots, hair unkempt. He's a proud man and it made my heart ache to see him brought so low."

_He had been kept in a fairly small cage, unable to even stand. Belle had used her dagger to release the lock and crawled in to examine the knots. The book on pirates had come in handy as it described several of the knots that they were prone to using. She had been most relieved to find out the ones binding Rumplestiltskin had been pretty standard ones. She'd made quick work of the knots on his hands and between the two of them they'd managed to undo his feet._

_But they could not leave. _She_ could leave, but the pirates had put extra protection in place in the form of some sort of fairy enchantment on the cage itself. Rumplestiltskin was trapped._

"A cage, knots _and _fairy magic? That seems like overkill."

"It does, doesn't it? But trust me…it wasn't."

Dreamy's eyes narrowed at her. "Who _is_ this guy?"

Belle just shook her head and continued her story.

_Rumplestiltskin had given her specific instructions that she had to follow to the letter. It involved breaking into the pirate's ship while they were on shore leave, stealing an enchanted sword, and then trading that for a potion a hedge witch had that would break the fairy enchantment._

"We escaped too easily," Belle pointed out.

"How so?"

"The pirates never even came after us. We got back to his estate without even one single pirate trying to take us out. It was the strangest thing I had ever experienced. I can't say it's what I'd heard about pirates."

"Me either. I'd have thought they'd do something like strap you by your bootstraps to a canon and send you to the depths." Belle gave him a strange look. "Or so I've heard."

"Anyway, we get back to his estate and rush in. And as soon as I have the doors shut, he's _laughing_. No…not laughing…_giggling_. Like _mad_. Like this whole thing is the most amusing thing he's ever experienced."

_"What are you laughing at Rumplestiltskin?" He was laughing so hard now that the giggles had turned obnoxiously high-pitched and he could barely stand. He pulled himself to the chair in front of the fire and fell heavily into it._

_"You were brilliant, my dear!" The words came out in between giggles. "Absolutely brilliant."_

_"And this is funny? You could have been killed!" She was flummoxed as to why this was even remotely funny. _

_"Oh I was perfectly safe the whole time."_

_Her eyes narrowed. And then it suddenly made sense. Pirates sending notes with no ransom demand. Being able to trap the Dark One. The ease of their escape. She sank down into the chair opposite him and watched as his mirth slowly faded away._

_"Why?" was all she asked him._

_"You said you wanted adventure." And the worst thing about it was he sounded _serious_. _

"I didn't talk to him for two days," Belle finished with.

Dreamy just stared at her. "Should have been a lot longer."

Belle laughed and it was maybe the first time he'd heard an honest to goodness laugh out of her. It sounded good. "Well, he always was hard to stay mad at."

During their walks, Dreamy asked her more than once what happened to them at the end and always the story was the same. He chose power over her. Dreamy wasn't sure who this mysterious protector was but he suspected he was some powerful lord and Belle his servant. Perhaps that was why she avoided the towns. Was this protector looking for her? No, that didn't make much sense as she said he threw her out. But maybe _someone else_ knew of her relation to this protector and would harm her for that? He never questioned her again about their avoidance of towns. She did it for her own reasons and he supposed that was enough. Sometimes he thought that it was for the best, really. A dwarf traveling not with his brothers, but with a young woman was sure to be noticed. And if this mysterious protector had enemies, well, they'd soon enough find the pair.

* * *

Winter was approaching. Dreamy could feel it in his bones. Dwarves spent the winter months holed up in the mines, protected from the elements and working tirelessly. They were cave dwellers naturally, but he was sure that Belle, with her soft skin and pale eyes, was meant to be living in the sun. The longer they trudged on, buried deep in the forest, the more she seemed to wilt. She was tiring…a little more each day. He could tell. The spirit, the _anger_, that had sustained her through the first part of their journey had all but left her.

"Dreamy," she said one day while they took a rest. "Why didn't you go with Nova?" He hadn't wanted to broach the subject with her when her heartache was still so obviously near to the surface. What did the unnatural love of a dwarf for a fairy matter when compared to the pain that caused Belle's eyes to narrow and her hands to shake when she spoke of her love throwing her out? Dwarves weren't _supposed_ to love. That was what Bossy said. And he certainly shouldn't love a fairy. That was what the Blue Fairy said. Belle was human and so love was a natural part of her life. As was heartbreak, he supposed.

He took a long look at her. "The Blue Fairy," he muttered. Belle just continued to stare at him, her eyes wide. "She told me that Nova had a dream, a purpose in life. And that I was getting in the way."

"And you let her go…just like that?" There were creases around Belle's tired eyes that told him she had done so much more to stay with her love than he had. Really, he should feel guilty. He let an old dwarf and an even older fairy talk him out of his love. He told Nova that they couldn't be together, that he wanted to see her reach her potential and that she couldn't happy, not with him at least. And he left, simply turning and leaving her overlooking the harbor and the boat that was supposed to be their home.

"Yeah…just like that."

He was supposed to go back to the mines after that, but instead had snuck out with only his axe to keep him company. He couldn't go back. He wasn't one of them. He didn't fit in. There was no room for an outcast dwarf within the mines. Stealthy, good stalwart dwarf that he was, had snuck out after him, tried to talk him into staying. _They'll accept you back Dreamy…we're your brothers_. He had gruffly hugged the slighter dwarf and walked away. Again. It seemed all he did was walk away from those he loved…his brothers, Nova…it didn't matter. Dreamy wasn't a dwarf who was meant to stay. He knew eventually he'd leave Belle too.

"Dreamy you had her _love_. She laid it down right in front of you. Why did you shut her out?" He had turned away from her then and headed off back into the woods. What more could he say? The truth of her words stung.

Things had remained strained between them in the days following that. The days grew colder and the pair trudged onward. Belle pulled her cloak tighter around herself. Grumpy watched her finger the material as she often did. It was rich, far richer than the dress she wore beneath it. The way she touched it, spreading her hands across it, curling deep into it when she slept with a sad smile gracing her face, led him to believe it had once been given to her by this protector she would speak little of. He may have thrown her and her love out, but Dreamy knew her love was no less diminished from the months apart. Just as his love for Nova seemed only to grow, despite their being no hope for it.

They made such a good pair. The dwarf who shouldn't love and his tiny, sad companion who loved with all her heart but couldn't be with the man she loved. A right good pair indeed.

They had traveled several more days when Belle suddenly looked to the north, licked one very cold finger and held it in the air. "Storm's on the way." Her eyes were serious when she looked at Dreamy.

"How do you _know_ that?" His experiences above ground were fairly limited. He could see the clouds gathering in the north, could feel the wind picking up, but he had no idea what it really meant.

Belle just shook her head a bit and gave him a grim smile. "We need to find a place to take cover. Soon." Her voice was steady, but it was obvious she was nervous.

"Like in a cave?" Dwarves knew caves. They spent much of their time in the mines but they also branched out on occasion, to scout out new locales for mines, looking for caves that might have the diamonds they mined for fairy dust. A dwarf could almost sense nearby caves, finding the hollow entrance often with more ease than humans.

Belle nodded at him and turned to set off to search. He could see the worry in her eyes just moments before she turned from him.

He rushed forward and grabbed her by the arm. "This is a major one, isn't it?"

"We didn't have a lot of these storms where I grew up. The northern reaches were fairly dry, but they blew in from the west on occasion. There were many more where…" Here she hesitated and Dreamy was sure she was about to talk about where she had been before her loved threw her out. "Well, where I was…after…" Her voice trailed off. He was almost used to it. She seemed to _want_ to talk about this mysterious protector who loved her but let her go, and yet every time she almost gave away some clue to his identity, she simply stopped. Sometimes it seemed as if she _couldn't_ talk about him. She shook her head. "At any rate, yes. This is going to be a major one." And she strode off once more, the dwarf at her heels.

It didn't take him long to see an entranceway off to their right somewhere. An opening in the trees and a certain feel to the woods gave him hope that they would find their place to hide sooner rather than later. He called to Belle, who was up ahead of him somewhere, and pointed. She treaded lightly through the trees to catch up to him. Dreamy was always amazed at how light on her feet she was. She insisted she was quite the clumsy oaf, but he'd yet to see it. She traversed the woods with the ease of someone who had been born to it, never tripping over roots and easily making her way down steep embankments. The dwarf, more compact and thicker of build, found it hard to follow her light steps and spent a fair amount of time picking himself up and dusting himself off from one slip or another.

"What is it, Dreamy?" His name on her lips always sounded odd, off in a way he couldn't quite name. Maybe it was because he no longer had dreams, not the ones that he had since he first emerged from the egg, the dreams of a lovely young fairy who had come to him, who was going to share her life with him.

"Caves, Belle." He was relieved to see her squeal with pleasure and race off in the direction he pointed. He followed behind, directing her, telling her which way to turn until she finally saw them and rushed on ahead, leaving the dwarf with his short stubby legs to bring up the rear.

By the time he arrived at the edge of the caves, he could see that there were three separate entrances. Belle was just heading into the largest, when he reached out and pulled her back. "Let me." He knew what could be in the caves, the types of monsters that sometimes dwelled within. He decided to forgo the middle and largest cave. If anything were to be in one of the caves, it was likely to make the largest its home.

The smaller cave off to the left seemed to be the most promising and so pulling out a bit of flint, he lit the torch he kept stuffed in his pack and pressed forward. The cave seemed dry enough, with a small bend in the entrance that would keep them somewhat protected from the snow that was soon coming. It wasn't large, but thankfully the pair of them were fairly small and so both could stand up straight with some inches to spare.

In the corners of the cave he found only a handful of small and very old bones. There was no evidence of any creatures living within the confines of the cave. He shined his torch above him and found only a few bats clinging to the stone there.

He headed out to get Belle. "It's as safe as it's gonna get, sister. Come on." Belle followed him, slowly, and the pair decided quickly where to set up a small fire for cooking and warmth. Within a very short time, they had gathered up plenty of wood for the fire. Belle had piled up kindling in one corner and Dreamy had worked on larger wood with his pickaxe.

"That should last us several days." Belle nodded at the pile.

"Do you think it'll be that long?" He tried not to think about how much trouble they could really be in. He had hoped she would find some town to settle in before the winter set in, but the further south they went, the colder it got and now it looked like they could really be stuck. He wasn't sure either of them had totally packed for a winter storm.

Belle's forehead crinkled and she looked out of the mouth of the cave. "We'll be fine Dreamy."

* * *

They weren't fine though. Not really. They had spent the remainder of that day hunting and foraging for food. Belle had managed to trap a few rabbits and Dreamy had gathered nuts and berries and other things that were edible. With the snow coming they weren't worried about water, but he was somewhat concerned about their meager food stores.

The storm hit sometime during the night and they huddled in close to their fire, listening to the wind howl and doing their best to protect it from the occasional wind that rushed into the cave and seemed to get trapped there. Belle huddled down into her cloak and Dreamy finally drew his own out, wrapping it tight around himself, leaving only his eyes staring out of it.

Neither rested well that night and so turned to telling stories. He finally told Belle about how he had dreamed of Nova while still in the egg and how the rest of his dwarf brothers thought he was ridiculous. Bossy, however, had tried very hard to hide the fact that his egg, and his alone, had been dusted with fairy dust. They didn't know how it got on it, but there was no denying that the dust had altered him in some way. He was born early, something that was unheard of in dwarf circles, and he came out asking about the fairy he had seen, when no fairy had been in the dwarf mines since they had gathered up the dust several months prior to that. Dreamy was simply _different_.

Belle told him how she was considered odd too. Whereas the other girls in her village spent most of their time embroidering pillows and swooning over handsome knights, she had been content to remain alone with her books. "All of the girls seemed to really adore this one knight. He was big, burly, and always happy to show off for them. My father and his father agreed to our betrothal…"

"Was this your love?"

"No." Belle was quick to deny it. "Gaston was…very superficial. He loved the ladies and often waxed rather poetic on their beauty. He didn't understand my love for books. He only understood beautiful women and fighting. He was really rather one-dimensional. I could never give my heart to someone like that…" Her words faded out and she got that far away look she often did. And then she turned away from Dreamy, lying down with her face turned toward the fire. He could see one tear break free from the corner of her eye and make a track down her cheek.

* * *

The storm had raged for nearly a full day. Dreamy and Belle had huddled in the back of the cave, eating their meager rations. Every once in awhile one of them braved going near the storm to collect more snow that could be melted into water for drinking and cooking, generally coming back nearly frozen and covered in snow. They could do little more than laugh as they dried out by the fire.

Dreamy couldn't exactly say their hearts were light, but during those hours of screaming winds and darkness, they were able to keep their spirits up enough to remain hopeful. Dreamy told stories about his brothers and their time in the mines. He sometimes wondered if he should go back, if he also had a destiny to fulfill, that maybe the Blue Fairy hadn't just been talking about Nova when she spoke of destinies. But then he would remember that he _loved_ Nova and they had torn them apart. Couldn't other people take on those destinies? Why did it _have_ to be them? He had broken Nova's heart. That much he knew.

Belle told stories of her childhood and sometimes of her protector. She mostly stayed away from the latter, occasionally just giving hints of their time together.

_She had been up on the ladder, precariously balanced as always. She should have known better, really. Her governess had often faulted her on her comportment, telling her she had no hope of __finding a proper suitor if she couldn't conduct herself with grace. But that just wasn't Belle. Belle __did things a young woman wasn't supposed to do...climbing trees, skinning her knees as she fell, even breaking her arm once. She often tripped and fell when she was reading a book and walking at the same time. Graceful and Belle were not words one generally put together in a sentence._

_So her standing high up a on a ladder, hand stretched out trying to pull the curtains off the wall and let light into the castle ("Need I remind you it's not called the Dark Castle for no reason, dearie?"), was not really any sort of surprise. Not to her at least._

_And apparently not to Rumplestiltskin who, by now, was well acquainted with her displays of gracelessness. He found them terribly amusing and Belle found them only slightly disconcerting. She was used to being the least graceful woman in the room, but she felt downright ridiculous next to the strange feline grace he exhibited._

_That particular day Rumplestiltskin had come to stand beneath her as he watched her struggle with the curtains. She had been half tempted to simply ask him to magic the darn things open when the curtain had _finally_ released its hold on the nail. She had been pulling with such force that when it came free, she simply lost her balance and tipped backward. Grabbing onto the curtain did nothing to slow her rapid descent._

"And then he caught me." Dreamy noticed the words were breathless, her eyes shining and her gaze seemed to be looking at something other than the fire in front of them.

"He caught you? From that far up?"

Belle nodded, finally turning to look at her companion. "He did. Just…reached out and grabbed me right out of the air. He saved my life."

"This protector of yours must be _huge_." Dreamy's eyes were wide.

Belle giggled a little. "Oh no, not at all. He's fairly small…" Her eyes widened and Dreamy wondered if she felt she had given _something_ away about his identity. But no, she hadn't really. He had long since given up trying to figure out who this person was. The more he pried, the more she was tight-lipped about her eyes looked so sad, though, that he wished she'd unburden herself. He thought she wanted to. And sometimes she started to say something but would shake her head, purse her lips, and look away. But he never pushed, not anymore. If she wanted to tell him, she would.

The storm finally died out after nearly a full day. Dreamy was woken up out of a sound sleep to the sound of silence…blessed silence.

"Belle!" He crawled over to her sleeping form and shook her shoulder.

She sat up suddenly, arms thrown out, and her head nearly colliding with the dwarf's. He just barely got out of her way. "Wha…"

"The storm…it's over." He jumped up and raced to the entrance of the cave. Belle followed more slowly, still yawning, trying to wake up.

"Oh dear," Belle murmured as she caught up.

"We're in trouble, sister." Dreamy turned to look at her and his wide eyes met her even wider blue ones.

Sometime during the night there had been a small cave-in, boulders nearly Belle's height had fallen into the entrance and above those, it seemed the snow had filled in the cracks. Belle climbed up the rocks and tried to punch her hands through the snow at the top, getting her arm out as far as she could but finding no end to it.

"I don't know how deep it is." She made her way back down with Dreamy's help. "If it melts, there should be enough room for us to squeeze through, but just barely."

"_If_ it melts?"

"When…" There was no doubt it _would_ melt, but the real concern was how long. The pair wandered back to the fire to examine their supplies. There was enough firewood for a few more days, two more rabbits they could cook and eat sparingly, and plenty of nuts and berries. But in looking at what they had left, the pair estimated that there was enough food for three days if they really spread it out and enough firewood for four or five days.

If the snow didn't melt or they couldn't find their way out, they were doomed.

* * *

Three days later, things were most definitely looking bleaker. They had finished the rabbits, finding every little bit of meat on the bones they could, before finally discarding the carcasses in the corner with the other bones they had found there. Their supply of nuts and berries had diminished to almost nothing, and their firewood would only last a little over a day.

They were in trouble.

Serious trouble.

And Dreamy knew Belle was well aware of it. Over the past couple days, as the weather remained cold and there was no sign of any thaw, she had grown more and more quiet. She no longer tried to read, instead huddling close to the much-diminished fire to try to remain warm. Dreamy had come to sit at her side, figuring that if they remained close, some bit of body heat might be shared between them and they could keep the fire lower than before, allowing their wood to stretch that much further.

But by the third day, Dreamy knew the truth. They weren't going to make it out of this alive. There would be no quick death for the pair. Likely they would fall prey to hypothermia before they did to starvation, simply drifting off into sleep when the fire died and not waking up again. It wasn't an unkind death at least, but Dreamy found little solace in it.

"Belle?" His voice felt rusty. He was pretty sure neither of them had spoken for at least the last half a day.

"Yes Dreamy?" Her voice sounded far off, like she was living somewhere in a dream instead of the reality of a cold, dark cave.

"It's been an honor knowing you."

She turned to look at him then, her eyes glittering in the firelight. "We're not going to die Dreamy."

He gestured with one hand. "Really sister? Do you know of some other way out of this mess?"

"We will _not_ die." And she turned away from him once more, staring into the fire.

They spent the next day in near quiet. Dreamy was resigned. Belle seemed resolute. She told him more than once that she promised they would make it out of there alive and even though there seemed to be no evidence of a thaw, even though the fire burned just a little lower each day, even though their food rations were nearly gone, she seemed to truly believe it.

"It would take magic to get us out of this predicament," Dreamy muttered, throwing the last log on the fire. The fire roared to life for a moment before dying back down. It warmed them, but he knew it was the end.

"It just might," Belle responded with and Dreamy just shook his head. If she thought that magic would somehow get them out of this predicament, she was probably the one who should be named "Dreamy," not him.

The fire was dying down for the last time. Dreamy and Belle were huddled close together. They doubled up their cloaks and stayed close, wrapping them both around themselves. There was still no thawing in sight. Dreamy loved that Belle remained optimistic but he wondered _why_. And _how_. There was no way out and even if they got out of the cave, they were bound to be stuck in the feet of snow that had trapped them there in the first place. Winter was well and truly upon them, holding them in its icy grasp.

"Well, well, well…what do we have here?" The voice that came echoing through the cave caused Dreamy to flinch. He pulled slightly away from Belle and peered into the darkness surrounding them. He could see nothing. The voice continued. "A dwarf and a young maiden traveling together? Trapped?" The "r" was rolled, giving the word a strange drawn-out accented tone. Finally he stepped into the light, all quiet menace and leather. "And what is that I sense?" He raised one hand up and tilted his head to the side. "The stench of true love about them?" He pressed the hand to his heart. "Always have been a fan of true love." It was hard to see him in the dim light, but Dreamy was sure his nose wrinkled on the last statement.

He knew who this being was. Everyone in the realms did. There was no mistaking Rumplestiltskin's odd figure, his flamboyance, the wild hair and leather and strange hand gestures. Anyone who had spent anytime in the Enchanted Forest knew who he was. "I've got this one," Dreamy whispered to Belle and stood, pulling his pickaxe out of his pack and holding it aloft. "What do you want, Demon?" His voice sounded braver than he felt.

"Demon? I?" His voice sounded wounded. "When I've come here to rescue you? Perhaps I should just be on my way then." And he turned on his heel and took a step. Just one step. Dreamy knew better than to let him go. This was their only chance and Rumplestiltskin knew it.

"You're here to rescue us?" He couldn't even begin to understand why one of the most feared beings in the realm had shown up in their little cave with the intention of rescuing an unimportant dwarf and a young peasant girl. "Why?"

He turned back to Dreamy, a feral smile gracing his face. "You called me."

"I?…"

"Oh no, not you." He took another step toward Dreamy. The dwarf held his pickaxe higher, almost as if he could ward him off. "Her," Rumplestiltskin continued with, pointing one long finger at Belle.

"Stay away from her!" Dreamy rushed him. It was a stupid move, but he felt he had no other choice. He had to protect Belle from this evil figure. They might die if Rumplestiltskin didn't save them, but that could be preferable to whatever he had planned for them.

Dreamy was suddenly pushed back several feet and pinned against the wall of the cave. The pickaxe that he had such a firm grip on flew out of his hand and landed in Rumplestiltskin's. "I always did want my own pickaxe," Rumplestiltskin said and giggled. The imp took another step toward Belle and now Dreamy could do little to stop him, frozen against the side of the cave as he was.

"You called me, child. How can I be of service?" Up until this point Belle had been crouched by the fire, her face lowered, hidden by her hair. Dreamy had been sure she was trying to hide, trying to stay as much out of it as possible. He never would have guessed _she_ would have been the one to call Rumplestiltskin to them. Now he understood why she had been so adamant that they would make it out alive. But what price would they have to pay? Rumplestiltskin always cut a deal, usually one that benefited him more than the other party.

He watched Belle take a deep breath and turn her face, looking up at the imp for the first time. Her eyes looked bright and wary, a sheen of tears forming in them. She looked just as he expected her to if she had dared bring the Dark One to them.

Rumplestiltskin, however, looked nothing like he expected at that moment. The imp's arms lowered and spread apart slightly. His eyes were wide and he took a small step backward. Dreamy felt the enchantment over him fade and was able to move again. He took a step away from the wall when the imp spoke again. "Belle?" The word was whispered and for a moment Dreamy thought he must have been the one who had said her name. But no, the way Rumplestiltskin was looking at her, the slight tremor he could see in his hands. He _knew_ Belle…somehow.

Dreamy took another step forward. He didn't even know what he was going to. Belle looked stricken, as if she didn't dare most a muscle from her rather awkward crouch near the dying fire. The Dark One looked like even a feather would knock him over. Time seemed frozen as the pair stared at each other and Dreamy looked back and forth between them.

"Rumple!" The word was nearly choked out of her. And then she was moving. She stood up so suddenly Dreamy didn't even have time to react. And then she was launching herself at Rumplestiltskin. She collided forcefully with the imp and her arms came around him, underneath his arms, clutching him to her. Dreamy felt his heart go up into his throat for the second after that. He held his breath until the imp returned the gesture and wrapped his arms tight around Belle, burying his face in her hair.

_They know each other_. It was Dreamy's turn to take a step back, staring at the pair who were clinging to each other. But it was more than that.

"This is your mysterious protector?" All the puzzle pieces suddenly fell into place. The need for hiding away from towns, her unwillingness to say much about him, his needing to be tied up, caged, _and_ under a fairy potion, his being able to catch her. _Everything_ made sense. Except, perhaps, for the fact that the man Belle was in love with, the one who made her mouth turn up in small sad smiles, was Rumplestiltskin. _What the hell as the world coming to?_

Belle moved back slightly from the tight embrace and looked up at Rumplestiltskin. The imp's hand came up and he ran one finger lightly down the side of her face.

"This is the man you love?" Dreamy asked

He watched Belle's hand come up to cup the imp's face. Her eyes didn't stray from his and for a moment it looked like she was searching for _something_ in his eyes. Finally she smiled and Dreamy realized it was the first _true_ smile he'd seen out of her. "Yes," Belle whispered, but the word carried through the cave, the weight of it settling around them.

They didn't kiss. He was afraid they would. But instead, they embraced one more time, quickly, before separating. Rumplestiltskin led Belle over to him, his arm protectively winding around her waist as they walked. Belle looked…radiant. This unexpected union had obviously done her some good, even if the reunion was with the Dark One. He still couldn't quite wrap his mind around that one. How had a young beautiful girl fallen in love with someone whose fearsome reputation was known far and wide? Belle had never gone into how she had met her love. Now he knew why she had refrained from talking about that.

Belle stepped away from Rumplestiltskin briefly to approach him. "Dreamy, I'm sorry. I didn't feel like I could tell anyone." She held her hands palm-up and tilted her head slightly to the side.

"Believe me sister, I understand." He looked around her to keep an eye on Rumplestiltskin. He was currently stepping away from them, turning his back to them, giving them some space. "Is this really what you want?"

Belle nodded. "I'm going back with him…"

"Just like that? He threw you out." The words came out harsher than he had intended.

"Dreamy you are a good friend. There's so much more to the story than I can tell." She shook her head. "But yes, this is what I really want. This is all I've _ever_ wanted."

"The question," Rumplestiltskin said as he approached the pair once more, coming up behind Belle and standing close to her, wrapping one arm around her waist. "Is what do _you_ want?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you. I'm sure you don't want to perish in this cave, so you must want _something_ from me."

Dreamy shook his head. "Everything always comes with a price, doesn't it? That's what they all say anyway."

Rumplestiltskin held up one finger. "You have paid your price already. You kept Belle safe. So in this case, I owe _you_. So I ask again…what do you want of me?"

Dreamy hesitated. He wanted to get out of the cave. That was the sum total of all he'd thought about since they'd gotten trapped in there. He wanted out. He wanted to be safe. He didn't want to freeze to death in the middle of a forest and be found, years later, as nothing more than a sad heap of bones with no story.

He wanted to be _something_.

"I don't know."

"Go back to Nova," Belle said, her voice almost a plea. "Go back and tell her you made a mistake. Forget the Blue Fairy. Forget Bossy. Go find your love, Dreamy. Find her and keep her, no matter what they say." She reached out to grasp his hand. "You don't get many chances at true love. Why give it up?"

She was right, of course. He really had two choices…well, three if he wanted to be honest, but he very much did not want to continue with Belle to whatever dank castle Rumplestiltskin made his home. So he could go back to the mines with his brothers, admit defeat, become one of them again. Or he could go find Nova and tell her the truth, that he didn't care about the Blue Fairy or Bossy, that he wanted to see the world in her boat. He didn't know if she'd give him a second chance, but he had to try. If she didn't…well…there was always the mines.

"You're right Belle. I need to go back to her. I need to try." A huge smile broke out on her face and she squeezed his hand. He saw Rumplestiltskin make a gesture with the hand not wrapped around Belle and the cave faded out in a mist of purple. The last thing he heard before it faded completely was Belle's wishing him luck. He only regretted that he could not say the same thing to her.

He found himself back at the tavern where their whole adventure began. It was time for his second chance.

* * *

As soon as Dreamy disappeared, Belle turned to face Rumplestiltskin again, remaining close to him. The hand that had been lightly resting on her waist came further around her, pulling her close to him again. They remained silent and still for a moment, the only movement his hand absentmindedly stroking from her waist to hip and back.

Finally she looked up at him, really looked at him. They were standing close enough to the fire that she could see his face and she was surprised at how drawn it looked. There were lines there that she hadn't noticed before, a sort of tiredness about the eyes she never thought she'd see from the immortal sorcerer.

He met her eyes briefly before they slid away again and the hand at her waist tightened just a little. "You were dead."

Belle shook her head. Did she hear him right? "I was…what?"

"Dead."

The word fell heavily into the silence around them. "I never died."

He gave a slight laugh. "I see that. I was told, however, that you were dead. That's why I never came after you…"

"You threw _me_ out. I didn't expect you to come after me. You made it rather clear you never wanted to see me again." She couldn't stop the hurt from creeping into her voice. All those nights alone on the road, so confused and frightened, trying to find a place for herself, afraid for her life if someone found out who she was, afraid to go home, afraid to go back. She couldn't deny that she had hoped that he would come after her. Every night that she spent sleeping out under the stars, wrapped in her cloak and crying, she had imagined his swooping in to take her back to his castle. Every night she spent drinking at the tavern, too scared to talk to anyone for fear they'd find out she was the "Dark One's whore," she hoped would be her last. But she didn't really expect him to come.

He cringed. "So I did."

As she watched the emotions flit over his face, emotions that he had schooled himself to not show at all during their last encounter, she realized she saw one more dominant over the others. _Guilt_. He regretted throwing her out. He regretted where things lay between them.

"Why did you think I died?"

"Regina…the Queen…she came to me some time after you'd left." The words sounded pained.

"And you believed her?" Belle hadn't known the Queen before she came across her on the road, but she had heard plenty since. And it was obvious after that whole incident that she twisted words to suit her own needs. Oh, she had been correct. True love's kiss _would_ release him from the curse, but she knew the Queen had known he wouldn't _want_ that. She had tricked Belle into setting them on this path and Belle was still mad at herself for falling for the Queen's ruse.

His eyes remained turned away from her, the pinched look about the edges painful to look at. She reached both hands up and cupped his face, forcing his eyes to meet hers. His hands stilled on her waist. "You ridiculous man." She shook her head as she looked at him, tried to gauge his reaction. His lips quirked up in a small smile and so she simply wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close to her. This was something she had _always_ liked about him. They fit together. She didn't have to stand on her tiptoes to hug him, she didn't end up smothered against the chest of someone far too tall for her. She was able to wrap her arms around him without feeling awkward.

One of his hands came up and a finger trailed down the side of her face, touching lightly. She pulled tighter to him. His voice, when he spoke next, was a near whisper. "So, my dear, you did call me here…"

She smiled. "Ah yes…I suppose it's time for me to make _my_ deal."

"Indeed." She couldn't see his face, but she could hear the smile in his voice. "What is it you want?"

She responded without even a moment's hesitation. "I want to go home."

Rumplestiltskin pulled away from her slightly, one hand still on her waist, the other still lightly stroking her cheek. His eyes met hers, narrowing slightly at the edges. "Are you sure about that? You've avoided it so far. Do you think your father would…"

"My father?" Belle let out a slight laugh. "No…Rumple…I want to go _home_. To _our_ home…"

"Oh…"

"That's my deal, Rumplestiltskin. We go home. I don't care what price I have to pay." And she meant it to. She had had long months to think about what she would do, what she would say, if he did ever come for her. She had imagined scenarios where she told him she never wanted to see him again (those never felt right). She had imagined scenarios where he came and confessed his love and gave up his curse for her (those never felt quite right _either_). What felt right was _this_. They had found each other again. And maybe things weren't perfect. Maybe things would _never_ be perfect. But they had each other in whatever capacity they could, as long as Rumplestiltskin was at least able to accept her love this time around.

He watched her for a moment and she met his eyes, unflinching in her gaze. She would not back down. Not this time. Last time she did. She had her say and walked out just as he had wanted her to. He wasn't the only one with regrets here.

"Deal." He whispered the word and pulled her in tight, burying his face in her hair. She clung to him and felt the world dissipate around them.

* * *

Written for the Winter gift exchange at the rumpel_belle LJ community


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